Swiss Market Comes Off Early Lows, Settles 0.73% Down

(RTTNews) - After a sharp decline in early trades, Swiss stocks recovered a bit Monday morning, and then kept paring losses as the day progressed, but still ended the session on a negative note, in line with markets across the globe.

Deepening tensions in the Gulf following reports of explosions at Al Udeid Air Base, the largest United States military installation in the Middle East rendered the mood bearish.

The Swiss benchmark SMI, which tumbled to 12,685.18, losing more than 400 points, recovered to settle at 13,000.09, but still recorded a loss of 95.46 points or 0.73%.

Richemont ended down 3.25%. Roche Holding, Amrize, Sika and Julius Baer closed lower by 2.2%-2.6%.

Schindler Ps, Kuehne + Nagel, Holcim, ABB, SGS, Straumann Holding and Lonza Group lost 1%-2%. Geberit, Partners Group, Givaudan, UBS Group and Helvetia Baloise Holding also ended notably lower.

Novartis climbed about 1.7%. Logitech International moved up 1.63% and Swisscom advanced nearly 1%. Sandoz Group, Swiss Re and Swiss Life Holding also closed on positive note.

In economic news, Swiss consumer confidence held steady and negative in February, monthly survey results from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, showed.

The consumer sentiment index stood at -30 in February, the same as in the previous month. The expected score was -29.

Nonetheless, the index improved from the previous year's reading of -34.0.

The economic outlook index improved to -31.0 from -37.0 from last year and from -34.0 in January. The sub-indexes for past financial situation and timing of major purchases strengthened from the past year's level, while the indicator for expected financial situation was broadly unchanged.